by Monica Palmer
Earlier this week, I was discussing cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as Food Stamps, with a friend of mine, and she asked me why I cared so much about something that, in her mind, had nothing to do with Missouri food banks.
My friend is the mother of two twenty-somethings, one in his last year of college and the other gainfully employed with shiny keys to her first apartment. I decided to explain my concern for the SNAP cuts in a way she would understand. I asked her what she would do if her daughter experienced a salary cut and was unable to make ends meet on her own. “I’d help her out” was my friend’s immediate response. I told my friend that Missouri food banks are in the business of helping people out, and because of the cuts to the SNAP program there will be a lot more people in need of help.
In 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This provided a temporary increase in SNAP benefits to help people who were negatively affected by the recession. The SNAP benefit boost was structured to phase out incrementally, but in 2010 Congress passed two bills that paid for investments in other priorities by prematurely ending the boost to SNAP benefits.
Beginning today, a family of four will lose $36 per month from their maximum benefit, a loss of $432 over the course of the year. That may not seem like a lot, but when you consider the fact that most SNAP recipients run through their SNAP benefits by the third week of the month, you realize the benefits were not adequate BEFORE the cuts, and this will make things even worse.
Each of the 933,000 Missourians who currently receives SNAP assistance will have their food assistance cut today. Two-thirds of that number is made up of children, seniors and the disabled. These people will more than likely have to turn to Missouri food banks, much as a child turns to a parent, to request help to make ends meet.
The problem lies in the fact that the food banks are already struggling to keep up with increased demand, resulting from the recession and slow economic recovery, so the necessary help may not be there. Charity alone is not enough. We need a strong charitable system AND a strong federal anti-hunger safety net.
There seems to be a disconnect between this so-called economic recovery we hear about in the media and the reality experienced by low-income families. We imagine things must be getting better, but Missouri food banks and their partner agencies are on the front lines and see firsthand the impact our nation’s struggling economy has had and is STILL having on our neighbors.
Employees and volunteers at the pantries and soup kitchens see the people who are still looking for work and unable to find it. They hear people talk of having to choose between paying rent and buying food. They know the little girls and little boys who rely on the free lunch at school as the only real meal they’ll often eat in a day.
If you had to stand face to face with one of these people and talk to them about strengthened stock markets and economic recovery, perhaps you would begin to understand that is not their reality.
Now, as food banks charge forward into the holiday season, preparing for increased demand on an already strained system, it is incredibly disheartening to know that additional cuts could be on the horizon.
This past Wednesday, the Farm Bill Conference began and conferees have begun negotiating the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill. The House farm bill, passed in September, would impose the severest cuts to SNAP, slashing $40 billion from this essential program at a time of heightened need. Under this bill, 850,000 low-income households would see their SNAP benefits cut by an average $90 per month, and 4-6 million individuals would be cut off completely. As if that weren’t startling enough, 210,000 kids would also lose access to free school meals because their enrollment is linked to their family’s receipt of SNAP benefits.
I care about SNAP, because I care about hungry people. I hold an optimistic belief that I am not alone in this. Food stamps and food banks can be used together as a sword and shield in the fight against hunger, ensuring that struggling Americans are at once armed and protected as they fight their way to a better future.
Making your congress person aware that you care about hungry people is just as important as donating to your local food bank and volunteering your time. Together, we can end hunger.